First and foremost, I would like to say the following:

I am a live and let live person. I do not hate cats or animals. I believe that animals are wonderful creations placed on earth to enhance our lives and our world, and I respect animals and their lives for that reason.

I have posted a fake email address because I do not care to endure any animal rights hate email for my posting.

With that said, here goes:

I live in town, and am having trouble with neighborhood cats. The problem started about 2 years ago, when a tomcat sprayed the front door of my home.

I do not own cats, but the "sprayfest" began. At first, the spraying began on a every other week basis. I can deal with that...I guess. Then, the "sprayfest" became a town wide sensation. I think I have had every male cat in town spraying my front door like it was on fire.

Most recently, a tomcat sprayed the cloth interior of my car. Today, I came home to a stench that drifted inside my home that I could not believe...

The party is over and Elvis has left the building.

I will begin trapping cats tomorrow morning. I have borrowed a steel live trap from a friend and bought both canned tuna and canned catfood.

Here are my questions, since I have never done this before:

What is the best food to attract house fed cats? Strays?

Why are the cats doing this and why did they pick me, of all people?

What is the BEST way to *dispose/displace* a cat?

How can I keep the cat from spraying the trunk of my car, if I am transporting it in a livetrap?

Since the neighbor's houses and cats are literally an armslength away from my own home, can I cover the livetrap with plywood to conceal the trap from eyesight? I am attempting to work covertly on this project.

Is it possible to catch only cats, yet deter raccoons?

Any other thoughts?

-- need to know (need2know@once.com), May 05, 2002

Answers

Get live traps from animal control and they may be able to place many of them with farms in your area. Our AC has only destroyed ill cats for 3 years that I am aware of.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), May 05, 2002.

When I was living in town I had a problem with the cat across the street coming over and beating up my cat. I live trapped it, then beat the cage with a wiffle bat and tossed it around the yard a bit then let the cat go. He never came back to my side of the street again.

It sounds like what you need is an electric doormat, though. The archives have some of Hoot's bird, rat, cat zappers.

Okay, if you insist on hauling the cats out live, find a box with a lid that the trap will fit in and set the trap in the box and a garbage bag under the bottom of the box and the lid on the box. If the cat sprays, he sprays himself.

I do not know of any way to prevent raccons or skunks from getting in your trap instead of cats.

Why are they picking on you? You do not have dog to guard your porch and you have not practiced the surprise punt.

-- Laura (LadybugWrangler@somewhere.com), May 05, 2002.

Bring them to the human society , not fair to drop them off to fend for them selfs.

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@hotmail.com), May 05, 2002.

I agree withPatty. Don't drop them off somewhere else. You're just giving someone else your problem. And the cats might die a disgusting death. Take them to a place where they can be dealt with. Try washing your door and the area around it with straight white vinegar.

-- Ardie/WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), May 05, 2002.

If the cat has a collar with a rabies tag, as it should being in a residential area, the HC will just notify the owner to come get it - perhaps charging you for the drop off. If this is the case, the only thing it will do is to upset your neighbor.

Should you decide to relocate it, just please not on my road. I've heard captured animals, such as raccoons, need to be taken at least 15 miles away so they don't find their way back home.

To hide the cage, just cover it with an old large towel or something similar. For bait, punch some holes in a can of oil-preserved sardines.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), May 05, 2002.

P.S. Since the cat is marking territory with urine, perhaps capture yours in a bottle or jar, let it age a bit and throughly soak the cat with it while in the cage.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), May 05, 2002.

We have wild cats here. The Humane Society works with our township for animal control. They have loaned us a trap and have come out when called to take away the animals that were caught. It helped a lot. They didn't ask for any money except to secure the return of the trap.

-- Nina (ingardenwithcat@hotmail.com), May 05, 2002.

When I was a Humane Agent we had to trap cats. We used the stinkest cheapest food we could find, Usually tuna. I caught lots of skunks, that is a real chore if you get one.

This is what I would do, I don't know if you have already tried this. If you know who these cats belong to trap the cat go with the cage to that persond house and nicely say I caught your cat in my trap, he was spraying my front door. If you can't keep your cat at home and under control, the next time I trap him I will dispose of him in a way I see fit. I have had to do this with neighbors dogs and it works. Then if the cat gets traped again take it to the Humane Society. Check to see what you local and state laws are. Here in MN if you harm someones pet with out offering a warning first (unless they are harming livestock) you can get the pants sued off you. Don't harm the animal until you know what yours and the animals rights are. Don't count on the police or the sheriff to know the laws. These are usually obscure laws. See if your state has a Federated Humane Society. The is the parent organization for most Humant Societies, they should have an 800 number. They would know the laws and they should be able to help you. If you would like to e-mail me privately I would be happy to walk you through the process. It will take some more patience on your part.

-- Susan in MN (nanaboo@paulbunyan.net), May 05, 2002.

I bet you're dealing almost exclusively with intact males, and they are having a pee war, saying "my porch!". Then along comes another, who sprays and says, "no, MINE." Etc. Each cat who marks prompts yet another cat to mark on top of it. This will continue as long as there are males around.

As an aside, I cannot miss this opportunity to point out where these male cats are coming from: they're coming from the homes where people don't neuter their pets. Your darling litter of 6? Yep. You kept one, found homes for two, one got ate by an owl, and those last two little males wandered off your place. One got hit in the road about a half mile from your house, and the other grew up (just barely) and wandered over to "need to know's" house to spray her porch and fight with the other toms there. Oh yeah, he also bred several unspayed females he happened to meet, resulting in 5 litters of feral kittens, most of whom died of parasites, starvation, and predation.

Anyway, back to the immediate problem. "Need", I would start by trapping. These cats I would take to the shelter to have them put down. Alternately, you can take the "trap-neuter-release" approach. Do an internet search to learn about that technique. I bet you will be amazed by the number of cats you trap. And the majority of them will be feral or semi-feral, which means their chances for adoption are virtually nil. (Especially when the farm up the road from you has a "FREE KITTENS" sign in their yard all summer. Who'd adopt a wild adult cat from the pound when they can get a free cuddly kitten from Farmer Joe??) So, these ferals either need to be euth'd or released, and I personally vote for euthanasia. You are not robbing them of any sort of real life; the life of a feral cat is short and miserable. You're doing them a favor by providing a painless death. Okay, so you trap all the cats, now how do you keep new ones from coming back? Well, first, eradicate the smell. I recommend KILZ for any paintable surfaces, and the archives are full of other ideas for this problem. Once the cats and the smell are both gone, then you'll need to get some kind of repellant for cats. I have never used anything, so can't really make a suggestion, but I wonder if coyote urine or something like that would help. Many hardware stores carry such things. Also, the dog idea might work. Our dogs certainly keep stray animals away from our place.

This is a tough problem with no real perfect answer. I'll be watching to see what you do & how it all works out. Good luck.

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), May 05, 2002.

need to know-

honestly, go get a little .22, then you do the SSS, Shoot, Shovel and Shut up! once trapped, SSS. You can get light loads that sound like a little pop (hammer hitting a nail sound).

When I complained to the neighbor about her cat spraying inside my new car, she told me to roll up my windows. I was shocked! I had never owned a new car before and had waited 20 years to finally be able to afford one. Ok, so it wasn't an expensive car but it was all I could afford and I had waited so long only to have it runied. (and btw- 10 years later my car still smells like cat spray, faint but still there!) That incident made me realize that nothing was more important then my own space. Can't keep your cat contained with in the confinds of your yard? dont' want to have him fixed? then don't have one! see what happened to me? I got hard and angery. I went out and bought a trap, trapped with tuna canned cat food, opened the lid and placed in the trap, trapped cat and disposed of. No more cat! pretty soon the neighbor with the attitude of I should roll my car window up on my property kept her cat in the house..then the she had to spay her little kitties! I would have rather trapped and shot the owner!

You can always fill a trash can up with water and place the trap inside holding down the trap....but I can't do that. For me it must be swift.

-- darenotsay (darenotsay@notgonnatell.com), May 05, 2002.

In your own garage, leave the door slighly open. mix ane can of catfood and one bag of rat poison and you will have one less cat. it sounds cruel, but most of the cat are starving and unowned. and what is a cat, but a bigger rat.

-- randy in central missouri (rwybrant@coin.org), May 05, 2002.

We livetrap with cheap kitty food then shoot them. Sometimes we have halfstarved sick cats come around and it seems like the kindest thing to do. Please don't drop them off somewhere! Neutered males will spray too, you should smell my friends' house! And those of you with unspayed, unneutered, unvaccinated and poorly fed "barn cats" may not realize the problems you can create in rural areas because of your males roaming the neighbourhood and terrorizing others' cats and all the excess kittens. Please consider looking after them better.

-- Kathy (homefarmbc@pacificcoast.net), May 05, 2002.

You have had lots of good advice here. I am not the least bit judgmental about these things. There are too many cats running around loose as it is. I love cats too, and do not believe in letting them run around loose. Use the live trap. If you do trap a skunk, e mail me or check the archives for how to handle it, not difficult at all and they are worth preserving, unlike the cats. Do not use poison. Too many things can go wrong. Bite the bullet, set your trap and be prepared to deal with it over a period of several weeks. Myself, I'd just kill the cats I caught, and not say anything, but how you deal with this is up to you. I detest the silly "out" of neutering or spaying and then turning them loose again! Jeez! Hope this works OK for you, I sympathize. We had about 40 cats here when we moved in do to the little old lady down the road who fed them all. Sickly, wild, like roaches when you went outside. I shot them all but I know that you can't do that in the city with close neighbors and laws. Hang in there and DO NOT FEEL GUILTY! You didn't cause this problem but it's up to you to protect your propety. LQ

-- Little Quacker in OR (carouselxing@juno.com), May 05, 2002.

Please, I am begging you....don't trap and release!!! please!!!! then I am left having to deal with these animals. They want to take these trapped animals somewhere, to they take them out to ..... "well, honey this looks like a good place, no one around...wait a driveway we can pull into to turn around in". "Why yes dear this looks like as good a place as any."

Well let me say that that good a place as any is my house! they always manage to make it up to my place! then I am forced to deal with them, only this time they are a little wiser and smarter and trying to trap them is almost impossible!

So I am begging you, don't trap and release! if you can't dispose of them, take them to animal control where they can dispose of them and you dont' have to ever give it another thought.

Thank you.

-- westbrook (westbrook_farms@yahoo.com), May 05, 2002.

I can't help but feel sorry for you with your cat situation...I live in a small town in SE Ohio and when I moved into my house I had the same problem the last lady had and did the same thing she did..Since I live in the city I bought some CCI cartridges for my 22 and like one of your responders said they only make a popping sound...But I also found several other methods of getting rid of them..I went and talked to to Vet in our town and he informed me that our town had the biggest epademic of stray cats in the county...He told me to go to a Sale barn and buy some Golden Malron that they use use for rats and it will get rid of your stray cats....Also if you can get ahold of some of the old Anti freeze and put it in bowls of milk, also make little balls of ground beef and satuate it with anti freeze and put it in your yard....We don't have any cats now..We used to have 43.. and I wish you lots of luck...By the way I do love cats but not strays....Bob

-- Bob (snuffy@1st.net), May 05, 2002.

Hello,,First of all , don't feel bad about having to resort to trapping these cats. The method you have chosen is very humane and is the way our Animal Control Shelter does it. All these cats are most likely the result of people not being responsible for their pet cats. It doesn't take long for cats to multiply almost as fast as weeds...Sad,,,, You have to protect your possessions and sanity,,,I hope this decision will help you and get rid of the stress it has caused you,,, quickly..Hang in there,,and stick to your guns..Patsy

-- Patsy, MT (cozyhollow-gal@care2.com), May 05, 2002.

Ok a quick painless death is ok but for any idiot who wants to see a cat suffer come on !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is not there fault , it is the fault of some stupid human .Shoot them take them to the shelter , just don't poison and leave them to die a painfull death.

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@hotmail.com), May 05, 2002.

I would like to say that I LOVE this page!! Thank you for all of your wonderful and informative posts. I really do appreciate your time and input on this matter.

I would like every one to know that I will be disposing of all trapped cats. I will NOT be dumping. I grew up in the country, and despised people who thought they were doing the world a favor by driving 5 miles out of town to dump their problem cat on someone else.

I said "The party is over. Elvis has left the building." This was my way of saying no more Mr. Nice Guy, what I trap will be killed, one way or another. I will assure you that the cats' deaths will be quick and painless, most likely by .22 rifle.

One problem that I have is in order to drop off an animal at the county animal shelter, you must sign a form with your name and address. This form absolves the county from legal issues, but also is available to anyone who requests the information.

The real sad part about this is that in order to take care of this cat problem, I have to be secretive, dishonest and decietful to my neighbors in order to maintain good relationships and to keep the peace.

-- need to know (need2know@once.com), May 05, 2002.

Lots of good advice and bad advice here!

I've been in your situation and have solved it much like many here. However several issues:

1. ABSOLULELY DO NOT EVER take a captured cat, dog, other predator, home to mama or papa and let them know..."next time..." That serves ONLY to set yourself up for HUGE AMOUNTS OF ugly vituperation up to and including "...hurt my cat, you die."

2. NEVER, NEVER catch and release. Feral cats are so abundant they have an ENORMOUS negative impact on local bird and wildlife. Several studies have shown that cats are ferocious predators and bird life in their territory will suffer. I have seen them raid nests and eat eggs. Catch lizards, you bet. Release one and you have created a problem, release several and you are responsible for a local holocaust.

3. Neutering an adult cat is useless, that will have NO impact on whether or not he will spray his territory. I have seen this behavior of cats up close and personal. Once they start, there are few ways to stop them. And those methods can be too brutal for most people to seriously consider. Neuter for other reasons, but not this!

4. There are so many cats, dogs, etc. around that cause enormous problems they best solution is SSS. Most especially, shut up!!!

Regarding the delicious aroma in your car, there ARE products available that can neutralize them. Talk to a local carpet cleaner, they face the problem daily.

Best of luck solving your problem,

-- Jack (killer@nonesuch.com), May 05, 2002.

Cat sprayed inside the car? I'd declare war. A trap sounds like a good start. Trap cat, put inside burlap bag, wait til 2am and throw with enough force to break through offending neighbors window.

-- nope (never@mind.com), May 05, 2002.

Another way to hide the live trap is to surround it with potted plants. Good luck with getting rid of the cats! We also have had the same problem. Since we're not in town we too SSS. Again good luck.

-- Michelle Thomas (mpthomas83@hotmail.com), May 05, 2002.

Jack When I suggested taking the animal home it is law in Mn if you warn and the problem still exists you are justified in taking action, such as killing the animal. Other than if someones's pet is killing or harassing livestock, you can not just shot to kill in this state. I would hate to se someone with a law suit due to being ignorant of local law.

-- Susan in MN (nanaboo@paulbunyan.net), May 05, 2002.

Just to clarify, the term "trap/neuter/release" is a term that humane workers & rescuers use when handling feral cat colonies. There are criteria to be met when determining if this option is appropriate. Every situation is different. I was certainly not advocating that cats be dropped off out in the country.

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), May 05, 2002.

Those light loads are called CB caps where I come from. Pop those little bitches.You can pop them all day long and there would still be too many.Bring the trap into the basement and do it there. This will keep them from spraying in the car. Now you can bring them "out to the country" where they will make a meal for the coyotes. I love my cats but strays are not welcome.

-- George Washington (neutralizer@.22.com), May 05, 2002.

To me, the hardest decision is to catch a critter. Once you have caught what you want, I can think of no good reason for letting it live, even legal ones. So, how to do the deed.

Personally, I would never use any kind of firearm to kill an animal in a live trap. The risk to self, surroundings, trap, gun and bystanders is just too great. Unlike TV and movies, bullets do not vanish when they hit the target (I still can't believe the bathroom scene in Full Metal Jacket.) Most .22 bullets will go right through a cat and continue until they are buried, ricochet or fragment, or all three. Also, the vital areas of a cat are quite small and, likely, several shots will be necessary, as the animal writhes, screams and bleeds an amazing amount. This is especially true with low-power ammo, e.g. CB caps (Not CCI, with is a manufacturer of high- end target ammo) or .22 shorts. Finally, most states forbid the discharge of a weapon within a certain distance of a house, usually 100 ft to 100 yards, or so. A shotgun is much more effective, humane and, of course, louder.

To my mind, caged critter disposal is most humane, quick, safe and quiet with a garbarge can full of water. Cover the cage, drop it in and that's that, 10 seconds; no fuss; no muss, no blood. And the best part is that it does not take any practice.

Another method is exhaust asphyxiation. If you vehicle does NOT have a working catalytic converter, cover the cage with a trash bag and tape it to the exhaust pipe. It takes about 30 seconds. If there IS a converter, then this method is not effective. I tried this once with a tulip-eating squirrel in town. After about an hour with a brick on the accelerator, the animal looked pretty peaked. When I opened the cage door, it shot out and disappeared, forever. At least the tulips were never touched again. I guess it did work, after all.

Be very careful with all firearms. But a .22 is too small to make a clean kill on a cat or anything larger. True, you can kill a bull with one, but only if you know exactly what you are doing. It's perfect for squirrels. But with larger animals, you just wind up feeling bad.

-- MartyB (mebtn@hotmail.com), May 05, 2002.

A .22 through the brain of a cat, or the heart and ribcage, is perfectly adequate. In fact, an air-rifle pellet through the back of the head is quick and quiet, as well. You DO want to be careful of ricochets, though. Drowning is simple, clean for the one doing the drowning of the victim, and incredibly drawn-out torture for the one trying to breathe and only finding water instead of what they need. Anyone who'd deliberately drown an animal deserves to be drowned themselves, so they can find out what it's like. Don't think you'd like that option? Then don't do it to animals. Quick or slow, make it painless and non-stressful.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), May 05, 2002.

I agree with patty if you must kill a animal then do it quickly, and as humanly as possible.Poisoning a animal is a horrible slow AGONIZING way to die!Which way would you like to go in?

-- kathy h (ckhart55@earthlink.net), May 05, 2002.

You should be prepared to deal with raccoons, large and small. When we lived in town our landlord borrowed a live trap from Animal Control to try to trap a cat that had been abandoned by a former tenant. The cat was dreadfully ill, but was very wary. One morning the trap was full, but instead of the cat, the trap had a baby raccoon and its mother who was very nasty. Animal control came out to take care of them.

Please do not use poison or anti-freeze. Lots of small critters love cat food because it is so high in protein. You might poison dozens of small creatures and still not get any of the cats.

-- Sammy (sammy@yahoo.com), May 05, 2002.

If you think that drowning is a easy death, I'd suggest that you're a couple beers short of a 6-pack. Guess you'd have to see it or experience it to appreciate how terrifying it really is.

Bad plan.

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), May 06, 2002.

Marty B,

You must not be a very good shot because I have probably disposed of 200+ Feral cats and I have yet to use more than 2 rounds. One to take em down and the other for insurance, 10 seconds tops. If you are shooting with CB caps and they are going through animals I would like to know where to get these MAGIC bullets so I can buy as many as I can while they last. I have yet to see a .22 exit anything except a bird. This is why it is the Mafias choice when shooting to the back of the head, NO EXIT WOUND. Your worried about lead flying around and you suggest a shotgun!?!?

By the way folks, in all my experience I have discovered that empty dog and cat food bags make the best "body bags" as they are plastic lined and strong. Dont use kitchen bags because the little critters teeth and nails will puncture them and they will leak. The animal can be kept in these for some time without a noticable odor.

Out here we just dispose of the carcasses by burning them. With some good wood you are looking at about 1 hour for a cat to COMPLETLY disappear for ever. Add more time and wood for larger animals. We just burned 3 goats that were attacked by neighborhood dogs, it took about 4 hours, they were about 100lbs each. Hedge wood is the best. Next time it will be the dogs.

TIP: Put animal UNDER fire wood and keep feeding the fire, NOT ON TOP. This is why people will tell you you cant COMPLETLY burn a living thing. We have sifted through ashes for skulls and other interesting parts and have not even been able to recognize a tooth! Happy Hunting!

ANOTHER TIP: Put the gun right into the animals ear. GOOD NIGHT

-- George Washington (Neutralizer@.22.com), May 06, 2002.

Yikes! Did "George" just write "you can't burn a living thing"??? I certainly hope that was a typo.

-- Ardie/WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), May 06, 2002.

I ment an ex-living thing, of course.

-- George (Neutralizer@.22.com), May 06, 2002.

This is really a sick post....im out of here.

-- julie (jbritt@ceva.net), May 06, 2002.

Oy vey!

-- Ardie/WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), May 06, 2002.

With all the trapping, shooting, drowning, and other forms of killing these hundreds of thousands if not millions of cats....

Why...jeese...we still have too many cats....

Killing is not a long term solution...spaying and nutering IS..

Your murdering cats whose only sin is that they were born will NOT stop the problem.

Go to Alley Cat Allies or Best Friends web site - drop them an e- mail...You just may be suprised that there are humane trappers in your area who can get the problem solved....

-- Jack (JackRussel@sick.net), May 09, 2002.

Since your line of thinking is so effective why dont we just start spaying roaches,mice,rats,carpenter ants,earwigs,horse flys,snakes,mosquitos etc...

If theres a problem.....you eliminate it

you must be an idiot

-- George (neutralizer@.22.com), May 11, 2002.

By the way idiot,

dont bother responding with some smart ass remark, I will not vist this question again to see it.

Did I mention that you must be an idiot.

-- George (neutralizer@.22.com), May 11, 2002.